According to Axios, Crusoe — the Denver-based company building AI infrastructure powered by clean energy — is in negotiations for a new pre-IPO funding round at a valuation of $30 to $40 billion. Just six months ago, in October 2025, Crusoe closed its Series E at $10 billion. If the new round closes at the upper end, that represents a 4x increase in under a year.
For investors tracking the AI infrastructure sector, Crusoe is one of the most dynamic stories of 2026. The upcoming round is expected to be the last before an IPO, which is anticipated in late 2026.
What Crusoe Is: The AI Factory, End to End
Crusoe is not just another cloud provider. The company positions itself as an "AI factory company" — a vertically integrated platform that unifies every layer needed to deploy AI compute: from energy sourcing to cloud services.
Energy. Crusoe was founded in 2018 with the idea of capturing wasted natural gas from oil fields and converting it into electricity for modular data centers. Today, the company's power pipeline exceeds 45 GW through partnerships with Tallgrass, Redwood Materials, Lancium, and others.
Data centers. Crusoe is building gigawatt-scale campuses: a 1.2 GW facility in Abilene, Texas, as part of the Stargate project, and a 1.8 GW campus in Wyoming. Its modular approach (Crusoe Spark) enables rapid scaling — multiplying capacity on existing energy systems.
Cloud platform (Crusoe Cloud). GPU infrastructure running on Nvidia and AMD chips, optimized for AI training and inference. The platform earned the highest "Gold" designation from Semianalysis in its GPU Cloud Cluster rating. Customers include Cursor, Decart, Fireworks, Odyssey, and Together AI.
This vertical integration — energy + construction + cloud in a single stack — is what separates Crusoe from competitors like CoreWeave or Lambda Labs, which focus on individual layers.
Valuation Trajectory: From $2.8B to $40B in 18 Months
Crusoe's valuation history is among the most impressive in the AI sector.
Series D (2024): $2.8 billion. A $600M round led by Founders Fund and Fidelity to fund the Abilene campus build-out.
Series E (October 2025): $10 billion. A $1.375B oversubscribed round led by Mubadala Capital and Valor Equity Partners.
Tender offer (November 2025): $13 billion. Employee share sale at a 30% premium to the Series E.
Current re-indexing: $19 billion. Updated valuation reflecting business growth and IPO preparations.
Pre-IPO round (in negotiations): $30–40 billion. According to Axios, Crusoe is raising up to $2B in this round.
If the round closes at the upper bound, this represents a 14x increase from the Series D and a 4x increase from the Series E in under a year. For an infrastructure company, these growth rates are extraordinary and reflect exceptional demand for AI compute.
Financial Metrics: Revenue Growing 3.6x Year-Over-Year
Crusoe is private, but available data paints a clear picture.
2024 revenue: $276 million.
2025 revenue forecast: $998 million — a 262% YoY increase, driven primarily by the Stargate project and Crusoe Cloud expansion.
2026 revenue projection: approximately $2 billion, contingent on the commissioning of key data center sites.
Growth is supported by platform metrics: Crusoe Cloud bookings grew 5x in the first three quarters of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. Operational uptime: microgrid — 99.2%, Crusoe Cloud — 99.9%.
For context: Crusoe's CFO and COO is Michael Gordon, former CFO of MongoDB, who led that company's 2017 IPO. His appointment is widely viewed as a direct signal of public market preparation.
Strategic Asset: The Stargate Connection
Crusoe is one of the central builders of the Stargate project — OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle's $500 billion AI infrastructure program. The company is co-developing the first hyperscale sites with an estimated capital spend of $12 billion through 2026.
Crusoe's flagship Abilene campus — spanning 4 million square feet — is among the largest AI facilities in North America. Each building supports up to 50,000 Nvidia GB200 NVL72 GPUs.
The Stargate involvement is not just revenue — it is technology validation. Crusoe's ability to assemble the full stack (energy + construction + cloud) and deploy it in months rather than years has become a critical competitive advantage in a market where the bottleneck is no longer just GPUs, but energy and speed of capacity deployment.
Industry Recognition: Fast Company, Forbes, TIME
Crusoe is accumulating external validation of its business significance.
Fast Company named Crusoe one of the world's most innovative companies for 2026 — 3rd place in the Computing category. For a private infrastructure company, this is rare recognition.
Previously, Crusoe appeared on the Forbes AI 50 and TIME100AI lists — both focused on companies defining the trajectory of artificial intelligence.
Scaling in Action: Redwood Materials Partnership
A concrete example of Crusoe's scaling ability — its partnership with Redwood Materials in Nevada. The project expanded from 4 to 24 modular Crusoe Spark data centers — a 7x increase on the same energy system. Over seven months of operation, the microgrid demonstrated 99.2% availability, and Crusoe Cloud achieved 99.9%.
The modular Crusoe Spark approach enables capacity deployment in months, not years — a critical edge as hyperscalers worldwide compete for the fastest AI infrastructure rollout.
Competitive Context: CoreWeave as a Benchmark
To assess Crusoe's prospects, it is useful to look at CoreWeave — the closest public market comparable. CoreWeave went public in March 2025, raising $1.5 billion at $40 per share. By October 2025, shares had surged over 250%, reaching a market capitalization of $65 billion.
Crusoe is smaller than CoreWeave in scale but differentiates through vertical integration — control of the energy layer provides structurally lower costs (estimated 30–50% below AWS or Azure on energy expense, which represents about 60% of AI data center operating costs).
Crusoe IPO: When and Under What Terms
According to ION Analytics, Crusoe is in discussions with banks about IPO structure, though a syndicate has not yet been finalized. Management is described as internally optimistic about the timeline.
Expected timing: late 2026. The current pre-IPO round at $30–40B is likely the final private round before listing.
Key triggers for IPO: commissioning of major Stargate sites, confirmed revenue trajectory toward $2B, finalization of the underwriting syndicate.
Risks to Consider
Despite the growth trajectory, investors should weigh several key risks.
Stargate concentration. A significant portion of revenue is tied to a single project. Delays or renegotiation of Stargate terms would directly impact financial performance.
Hyperscaler competition. AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud have incomparably greater resources. Crusoe competes on energy cost and deployment speed, but the scale of major players creates persistent pressure.
Energy and regulatory risk. Energy price volatility and regulatory changes could affect margins.
Illiquidity before IPO. Pre-IPO positions in Crusoe cannot be sold on public markets until the listing.
Crusoe is part of the AMCH portfolio. Platform investors have access to a pre-IPO position in Crusoe through structured lots. Current terms are available at: amcapital.app
AMCH is not a broker or a trust management service. The company operates as an investment fund. Investments carry risks. Past performance does not guarantee future returns.